This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Thursday, 24 May 2012

Obtaining Blessings through the Prophet's (s.a.w.) Hair

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِ

It
is narrated in Swahih al-Bukhari in the
Book of Clothes that ‘Utsman ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Mawhab (r.a.) said, “My family sent me to Umm Salamah with a cup of water. And Umm Salamah brought out a silver bottle
which contained one of the hairs of the Prophet (s.a.w.), and it used to be that if anyone came under the evil eye
or ill health they used to send her a cup of water through she would pass this
hair for drinking and we used to look into the silver bottle; I saw some
reddish hairs.”

Imam
ibn Hajr (r.a.) in Fath al-Bari said, “They used to call
the silver bottle in which the hair of the Prophet (s.a.w.) was kept ‘jiljalan’
and that bottle was in the home of Umm Salamah (r.a.).”

Imam
al-‘Ayni (r.a.) said, “Umm Salamah (r.a.) had some of the hairs of the
Prophet (s.a.w.) in a silver bottle,
and when some people got ill, they used to go and obtain blessings from these
hairs and they would be healed by means of its blessings. They used to take the hair of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and they used to pass it through
a cup of water and they would immediately be healed. And this explanation of the hadits is mentioned in Swahih al-Bukhari.”

It
is written in ‘Umdat al-QariSharh Swahih al-Bukhari, “If a person was
struck by the evil eye or by any sickness, he would send his wife to Umm
Salamah (r.a.) with a cup of water
and she used to pass the hair through that water and then he would drink the
water and he would be healed, after which they would return the hair to the ‘jiljal.’”

It
is recorded in Swahih Muslim that
Anas (r.a.) related, “The Prophet (s.a.w.) came to Mina and threw stones
and then he came to his tent in Mina after he made the sacrifice, and he told
the barber, ‘Take my hair,’' and he pointed first to his right, then to his
left. Then he began to distribute the
hair to the swahabah.”

In
the same hadits, according to another
narration by Hafsw (r.a.), “The
Prophet (s.a.w.) when he shaved his
right side, began to distribute either one hair or two hairs to every swahabi, then he did the same with the
hairs from the left side.”

In
his Musnad, Imam Ahmad (r.a.) said, transmitted by Anas (r.a.), “When the Prophet (s.a.w.) shaved his head in Mina, he gave
me the hair of the right side and he said, ‘O ‘Anas! Take it to Umm Salim.’ When the swahabah
saw what the Prophet (s.a.w.) gave
us, they began to compete to take the hair from the left side, and everyone was
getting a share from that.”

Imam
Ahmad (r.a.), in his Musnad, also said, “I heard from ibn Sirin
that ‘Ubaydah Salmani said, ‘O Allah! If
only I would have a hair of the Prophet (s.a.w.)
which I could keep with me: that would be more precious to me than the white
and the yellow and everything that is on the earth and what is inside it.’”

In
‘Umdat al-QariSharh Swahih al-Bukhari, “Khalid ibn Walid used to keep in his
clothes some hairs of the Prophet (s.a.w.)
and for that reason he was always victorious.”

It
is said in the same volume of the same book, “Khalid ibn Walid asked Abu Thalhah
to give him from the hair of the Prophet (s.a.w.)
when the Prophet (s.a.w.) distributed
his hair among the swahabah. And he asked to give him from the front side
of the head. And Abu Thalhah gave him
from the front side. And that is the
reason he was always in the front.”

Rasulullah
(s.a.w.) said, “Whoever held enmity
towards one hair from me held enmity to me and whoever held enmity to me, Allah
has become an Enemy to him.” This has
been authenticated in Kunz al-‘Ummal,
by Imam Hakim (r.a.), Imam ibn Majah
(r.a.) and Imam ibn Hibban (r.a.) and Imam Ahmad (r.a.) amongst others.

And those who annoy believing men and women
undeservedly, bear (on themselves) a calumny and a glaring sin. (Surah al-Ahzab:58)